Democratic thinking

Articles on democracy in the independent online media

December 19, 2007

Consumer democracy : Transport for London

Ken Livingstone is a classic example of a "left-wing" politician with right-wing policies. Under his guise as a progressive thinker he has evolved TFL (Transport for London) to a massive ticket collection machine.

To his credit ticket collection has not only increased but the majority of TFL is now working on collecting tickets and issuing fines. This has resulted in great monetary gains for his track record and the organisation.

However you need to ask yourself the following 10 questions to see if his term has had a real effect on the poor business travellers:
  1. Are trains and buses running better?
  2. Have platform services improved?
  3. Are you getting to work faster and safer?
  4. When you need help, do you find staff to help you at stations?
  5. Do you feel like an appreciated customer when your ticket is checked several times on multiple locations on a single journey?
  6. Do you find a seat when you travel?
  7. Is sweating, pushing people and cursing still part of daily routine?
  8. Do you feel you are getting value for money?
  9. Has the price for your ticket decreased?
  10. Do you like using TFL to get to work or would you prefer any other method instead?
If the results are positive then you should consult your doctor... :)
Otherwise please realise that apart from ultra-modern ticket machines, ticket police that treat you like a criminal and more ticket collection offices, there is hardly anything better (if not worse) about transport in London.

Thanks Ken.

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1 Comments:

At 1:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Trains are becoming my worst nightmare. Jubilee line is suffering from "prior signal failure... at" - yeah, yeah, yeah... we all know! LONDON BRIDGE!
District line is... and sometimes is not! As simple as that...

Honestly though, no matter the colour of the line, I believe it's time we raise our voices about this ...inconvenience (how irritating can this word sound after the nth time you hear it!) they are causing us day after day after "Groundhog Day".

Can I please wake up from this nightmare and get to work in the 21 minutes that TFL has so carefully calculated - without of course taking into account that every other day there is a "signal failure" at London Bridge - important information: 70% of the signal failures happen in London bridge! TFL has been investigating the issue for a long time, but they mystery still remains unsolved. Hmmmm... maybe it's time they change, update, do-something-anything-really the signal system?!?!?!?!

 

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